Carpet As An Alternative Fuel in Cement Kilns

Approximately 5 billion lbs of carpet will be removed from buildings in the US each year for the foreseeable future. This carpet is potentially a valuable resource because it contains plastic in the face of the carpet that can be re-used. However, there are many different types of carpet, and at least four major different plastics used to make the face. The face is woven through a backing fabric and held in place by a “glue” that is in most cases a latex cross-linked polymer which is heavily loaded with chalk (calcium carbonate). This backing has almost no value as a recycled material. In addition, carpet is a bulky material that is difficult to handle and ship and must be kept dry. It would be of significant benefit to the public if this stream of material could be kept out of landfills and some of its potential value unlocked by having high volume alternatives for recycled carpet use. The research question that this project investigated was whether carpet could be used as a fuel in a cement kiln. If this could be done successfully, there is significant capacity in the US cement industry to absorb carpet and use it as a fuel. Cement kilns could serve as a way to stimulate carpet collection and then side streams be taken for higher value uses. The research demonstrated that carpet was technically a suitable fuel, but was unable to conclude that the overall system could be economically feasible at this time with the constraints placed on the project by using an existing system for feeding the kiln. Collection and transportation were relatively straightforward, using an existing collector who had the capacity to collect high volumes of material. The shredding of the carpet into a suitable form for feeding was more challenging, but these problems were successfully overcome. The feeding of the carpet into the kiln was not successfully carried out reliably. The overall economics were not positive under the prevailing conditions of costs for transportation and size reduction

Using ecosystem landscape models to investigate industrial environmental impacts

ABSTRACT This article explores the use of ecosystem landscape models to estimate the environmental impacts of industrial activities at the regional / local scale. Integrated ecosystem and industrial modeling is first introduced within the context of life cycle assessment. Then, the use of integrated modeling to overcome problems stemming from the lumped parameter, static, site non-specific nature of life cycle assessment is discussed. Finally, the results of linking a handful of industrially relevant material and information flows demonstrate the ability of current ecosystem landscape models to respond to industrial burdens and estimate some environmental impacts

Environmentally benign processing : a systematic approach to closed loop processing in textile finishing plants

Issued as final repor

LCA Analysis of Carpeting - a Discussion of Challenges, Progress and Future Directions

[Title page and bio only]LCA is a maturing area and tools exist for evaluating the environmental and economic performance of many products - including carpet. When the reverse component of the life cycle of carpet is incorporated into the analysis the options and evaluation becomes more complex. A discussion of the BEES tool and the implications for establishing standards around the LCA for carpet will be moderated by the speaker

Life Cycle Analysis: A Tutorial Through the Case of Carpet Tiles

[title page only

Detergent formulation modeling and optimization

Issued as final reportProcter & Gamble Compan

Service Enterprise Engineering - Addressing the other 80% of the Economy

Join our guest Prof. Matthew Realff in discussing how advance math and computing help schedule everything from airlines to healthcar